With bitterly cold weather setting in across Britain, the Cossack hat is shaping up as winter 2012’s high street fashion hit. The style made glamorous by Julie Christie in Doctor Zhivago, and more recently by Keira Knightley in Anna Karenina, is doing swift trade across the UK.

John Lewis says sales are up 36% year-on-year, and 320% in the last three weeks as temperatures have plummeted.